IRENA, Visalia Make More Global Atlas Solar and Wind Data Maps Free

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) just made more information from the “Global Atlas for Renewable Energy” free for download. The atlas has offered comprehensive data to support renewable energy development for people throughout the world. The new data comes from private company Vaisala, which concluded compiling its average annual data on solar irradiation and wind speeds earlier this year and now made it publicly available.

“Facilitating access to reliable resource data is an essential first step when it comes to supporting global renewable energy expansion. It’s our goal and responsibility to minimize investment risk for the industry throughout the lifecycle of projects—from the early-stage prospecting efforts this data enables to the more detailed financial forecasts and real-time operational support we provide to clients,” said Pascal Storck, Global Manager of Energy Services at Vaisala. “Working with IRENA as part of the Global Atlas initiative gives us the opportunity to maximize the reach of our global wind and solar datasets to the benefit of the international renewable energy development community and its ambitions in promising new markets.”

IRENA made public data from the global atlas downloadable earlier this year. However, this is the first time privately produced data is available free for download.

“Our common goal is to accelerate the growth of renewables worldwide,” said Nicolas Fichaux, senior program officer at IRENA. “By pushing the boundaries of publicly available resource data, IRENA and Vaisala are helping the sector to move faster by lowering the complexity of entry into new renewable energy markets. The private sector recognizes the challenge, and this contribution from Vaisala demonstrates their continued support for IRENA’s work.”

Now data from Vaisala can be downloaded on via the global atlas in 4 megabit chunks in GeoTIFF format. The solar data set is based on 10 years of of data collection and provides average annual global horizontal irradiation at 3 km resolution. The wind dataset is based on 10 years of hourly data for at a height of 80 meters and a resolution of 5 km, according to IRENA. Both datasets will prove valuable to those pursuing renewable energy projects throughout the world.

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